Creeds have guided and sustained the faith of believers for centuries. They serve as foundational statements of our faith providing a framework for understanding and articulating the core truths of our belief. Rhythms in reciting the creeds help affirm the essential truths of our faith and guard against false teachings and distortions of truth.

INTRO

This morning, we’re talking about finding simple rhythms in the creeds.

The word creed originates from Latin, which translates into “I believe.”

Creeds are carefully written summaries of the Christian faith that have stood the test of time.

They teach us the foundational truths of our faith and we use them to worship God and teach others about God.

In the last few years, we’ve made it a normal part of our services at RiverLife to recite the Apostles’ Creed.

We started doing this during COVID when we only met online for two main reason:

• First, we wanted to find a way for our congregation to engage in service

• And second, we wanted to anchor ourselves in deep truths during a time where everything was changing. We wanted to ground ourselves in something that remained the same during a time when it felt like our world was shifting by the day.

While RiverLife primarily use the Apostles’ Creed, there are two other ones that other churches use, and they are the Nicene Creed and Athanasian Creed.

History of the major creeds

Each of these creeds were carefully crafted to be to affirm the correct understanding of God.

A common issue that the early church dealt with were false teachers and incorrect teachings of God, so the church saw it necessary to establish foundational truths about God and that’s how the creeds came to be.

Let me provide a little history on each of the creeds.

We’ll first start with the Apostles’ Creed.

Contrary to popular belief, the Apostles’ Creed wasn’t written by the disciples, but it’s called that because it contained the summary of Jesus’ teachings to his earliest followers.

The Apostles’ Creed was originally linked with baptism. Before a person was baptized, the leader would ask them questions about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to affirm the correct understanding about each person of the Trinity during a time where incorrect beliefs were being taught about each person of the Trinity.

Eventually, the Apostles’ Creed became the official statement of faith in the church.

The Nicene Creed is the most accepted creed among many all the Christian denominations and traditions.

The Nicene Creed was established to correct wrong teaches about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

This makes the Nicene Creed unique because it has clearer statements clarifying that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God solidifying the right understanding of who they are.

Lastly, the Athanasian Creed reaffirms all of what the Nicene Creed stood for, but uniquely, it places an emphasis on each person of the Trinity and how they are all uncreated, eternal, and of the same substance.

The Athanasian Creed also affirmed Jesus being both God and man.

And of the 3 creeds, the Athanasian Creed is the longest.

In summary, Christopher Poshin David describes how creeds have been useful.

He puts it like this,

“Creeds have served the church well for centuries. They are useful as a tool of communication to teach the faith, as a tool of apologetics to defend the faith, and as a tool…to foster fellowship between churches. Creeds stood guard against subtle or overt errors; heresies of the orthodox scriptural understanding of the Christian faith. They were vital for the proclamation and the preservation of the Christian faith.”

Creeds are unique statements that proclaim and confess truth about our faith and ultimately, these truths all comes from the scripture.

Although there is no “creed” in the Bible, there are creed-like summaries.

Creeds in the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 6:4 is an example from the Old Testament.

Moses proclaims this foundation truth about God to the people.

This is what he says,

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

The foundational truth is that God is one.

And after proclaiming this to the people, he instructed them to do this with it,

6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Truth requires us to do something with it. It isn’t just words we recite, but it leads us into action.

Pertaining to Deuteronomy 6:4, this truth invited them to share it when they were at home or walking on the road. They were to talk about them while they were lying down or standing up.

Tying them as symbols and binding them on your foreheads meant they could wear this truth on them to be reminded daily about who God is.

To this day, this truth continues to invite followers of Judaism to recite this 2 times a day.

Creeds in the New Testament

During our time of scripture reading, we heard from Matthew 16:13-20.

This is a moment where Peter proclaims a foundational truth about Jesus that is true for us today.

Let me provide a little more context so better understand what’s going on.

Jesus and his disciples arrive in a region called Caesarea Philippi.

The people who lived in is area believed in other gods and Jesus asks his disciples,

13 “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

The location is a backdrop to Jesus’ question.

In an area where no one believed in God he asks his disciple who others think he is.

It’s like going to Wisconsin and asking if the Vikings are a great team.

You won’t be able to get anyone to agree with you.

At this point, some thought Jesus was some sort of a miracle man while others thought he was demon-possessed.

The disciples share that others thought he was a resurrected John the Baptist, while others thought he was a resurrected prophets.

Jesus then turns to them and asks them,

15 “Who do you say I am?”

Now, this is an important question.

Jesus and his disciples have been with each other for a while.

The disciples have seen Jesus teach, heal, and perform numerous miracles, but there were others uncertain of who Jesus was and they were in a region where others didn’t believe in the same God.

Peter, being the courageous and spoken disciple answers saying,

“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Peter made 2 important declarations.

First, he proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah or anointed one.

The Messiah was a title referred to the promised savior who would come and free Israel from rule and restore it to its former glory.

Peter recognized that Jesus wasn’t just any ordinary person, but he was the savior.

Secondly, Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Son of the living God.

This is important because in Caesarea Philippi all the idols or images of gods were etched in stone.

None of their gods were actually alive, but were represented by inanimate objects.

Peter’s proclamation that Jesus is living is crucial because it differentiated Jesus from all the other gods that people claimed to be real.

Peter offers a significant truth between Jesus and all other gods that people consider to be real.

Jesus responds to Peter by saying this,

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Peter is blessed by Jesus and Jesus promises that “on this rock” Jesus will build his church and nothing will overcome it.

Now, this verse is heavily debated on what Jesus meant when he said “on this rock I will build my church”.

What makes it confusing is that in Greek and Aramaic language, Peter’s name and the word, rock, are interchangeable and similar.

Some interpret this passage to say Peter is the rock, the person who builds the church.

Others would argue that the rock isn’t referencing Peter, but the confession that Peter made.

The rock is the truth that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God.

A third option is that the rock is both the person and the proclamation.

Both Peter and the proclamation are rocks that are foundational to the church.

It takes both a person and God’s truth build the church.

Looking back, it’s evident that Peter plays a major role in the first church and it’s evident that the church is all about Jesus.

And as Peter gave a correct understanding of who Jesus is and became a leader in the first church, we are here for service today because of that foundation.

That we believe Jesus is the Messiah of the Living God, but I want to give us time to reflect on our own proclamation and confession of what you believe in.

Application

What are the foundational truths that summarize your understanding of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?

I want to give you a few minutes and write down your proclamation and confession of who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are to you.

I want you to write your own creed that summarizes your faith.

What is that you believe about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?

Our proclamation and confession of who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is very important to our spirituality.

In Romans 10:9 it says,

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Without a proclamation or confession, we aren’t saved.

With it, I believe God invites us to build his church as he did with Peter.

We may not be the foundation, but we a stone that contributes to it. 1 Peter 2:4-5 says this,

4 And coming to Him [Jesus] as to a living stone which has been rejected by people, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

So here are a few simple rhythms we find in the creeds that we live out so we can connect with Jesus.

1. If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus or if you’re unsure, we’d love to come alongside you and help you discover what it means to trust Jesus. We have people, life groups, prayer nights that we’d love to connect you to so you can continue to learn.

2. If you have a relationship with Jesus and you confess and proclaim him as Lord, I believe he invites you to serve the church. Find a way to serve the church. Are there people around you who needs to experience God’s love? It can be someone in the church, it can be someone outside the church, it doesn’t matter as long as there is an intentional desire to serve the church by caring for the people. And if you do confess and proclaim him as Lord, but hesitate to serve, I think that’s worth digging deeper into. Our true confession and proclaimation of loving Jesus doesn’t end with us. It leads us to love others so if Jesus is your Lord, but you aren’t loving others, see what’s stopping you.

I believe that a right understanding of God leads to a right worship of God.

So as we conclude, let’s take a moment to say the Apostles’ Creed together to remind us of the truth of who believe in.

Say the Apostles’ Creed with me.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy universal church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Let’s pray.